Now we turn to the day's other news, and that means the economy, the September numbers we should have had three weeks ago about American jobs have finally now been released. They were delayed by the government shutdown, and they're fairly weak. 148,000 jobs created in September. Though the unemployment rate teched down to 7.2%, the lowest in five years. There is widespread worry out there that the numbers should be better. Worried about the sluggish pace of the recovery. The number of people discouraged and all but permanently unemployed. And the unknowns about the full impact of this government shutdown. Our report tonight from NBC's Ron Mott in Chicago.

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Do you have a resume?

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I do.

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reporter: Kia lost her government job seven months ago.

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I'm looking for a wonderful, great position anywhere.

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And is out pounding the pavement again at an employment fair in Washington, DC. Her frustration growing every step of the way.

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I was making $85,000 a year. And now I'm at zero. And it's just -- it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking.

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reporter: A symbol of discouraging news today. How would you grade this report?

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I think it's more of a five than an eight or nine which is what we should be seeing at the stage of the game.

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reporter: Economist Diane Swan says this economy is charting new troubling territory. Take a look at the plunge. Each time the economy bounced back. But more than five years after the great recession began, we still haven't gotten back where we started.

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We still would like to see those 4 or 500,000, 800,000 jobs that we saw job gains in the 1980s and you don't get that kind of job gains when coming out of a financial crisis.

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reporter: This report doesn't even factor in damage done by the government shutdown. Paulette Force is back at the job at the EPA, uncertain about her finances and holiday spending.

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I'm not sure I should spend that money, you know, to travel, you know, because my paycheck may be short or delayed again.